Certain popular forms of games for example lotto and football pools utilise printed forms which display rectangles which are subdivided into squares. Each player marks a number of squares with a cross or other required character or mark in order to complete an entry but when these are checked by the company who organise the particular form of game, various problems appear. The forms are initially run through an electro-optical reader which is able to read those of the entries which have been marked with some dexterity but is unable to read those entries which have been marked such that a character or mark has been misplaced or not put sufficiently in register with the square which it is supposed to indicate or a part of the cross has extended into an adjacent square or an incorrect colour is used. The electro-optical reader will reject such entries which must then be individually read by eye and a judgement made as to the likely intention of the person who marked the coupon. Such human checking is tedious and expensive to perform. It is rendered necessary because firstly the eyesight, dexterity or patience of the person marking the form is inadequate for the task but secondly a pen is an imprecise instrument for performing the repetitive marking action. Even dextrous, patient writers with good eye sight do not find the application of crosses particularly easy or quick.
A ball point pen is widely used for marking coupons and forms but the need when executing the latter to lift the pen during each marking for example to mark one leg of a cross, lift the pen, re-position, then mark the other leg of the cross leads to big variations even within a small series of entries made by the same person and consequently rejections by the electro-optical reader are frequent.
Somewhat similar problems occur with sheets filled in by persons completing questionnaires, sitting examinations, or conducting surveys where they write a tick in a box or otherwise make repetitive marks perhaps for statistical treatment later. The marks made vary considerably and may prove unreadable when evaluated by a different person.
Thus in this specification the term "character" includes a single stroke, a tick, a cross, a dot, a circle and a numeral.
Entry coupons for Lotto, football pools and the like vary somewhat from country to country. The first type has a top ply, a bottom ply and an intermediate carbon ply. The top ply is the original which is printed by the player and surrendered to the organising company for reading. The intermediate ply has a lower face coated with transfer carbon and the bottom ply is the copy retained by the player. Thus the player must ensure that all marking action is firm enough to transfer the mark clearly through the top layer of the form, through the carbon layer beneath to the bottom layer.
For this first type of form a rubber stamp in a frame with a separate ink pad would render the crosses consistant but the accuracy of register which is necessary and the ability to strike evenly and perhaps to mark a carbon copy beneath the form are beyond the capability of a rubber stamp even if persons could be persuaded to carry about with them a separate ink pad. Self inking stamps suffer from the same disadvantage.
Swiss Pat. No. 362,706 discloses a stamp with a guide frame for ensuring parallelism of print and avoiding smudge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,607 describes a hand labeler with a plier action for advancing a label from a reel and simultaneously printing the same.
Japanese Pat. No. 55-51578 describes an ink immersed stamp which has an inked core which can be pressed against the paper to be printed.
None of these stamps can mark carbon copies simultaneously with the top copy. None have provision for aiming the printing part with sufficient accuracy for printing forms of the type described.
In a second type of form for other games the entry forms are not carbon backed but the player must print a series of crosses into a number of small squares for that part of the form which is surrendered to the company. Then the player must manually duplicate those crosses or characters to that part of the entry form which the player retains as a receipt. In some other types of the games the player places a series of vertical lines within a number of small squares with the same requirements as to colour and register.
In both these examples no replication by carbon backing is required yet these remain tedious and subject to error. This invention in its simplest form seeks to be useful for these types of games wherein the ability to preposition the cross or character would be very useful.
Several versions of the invention are set forth varying in complexity. One form of the invention provides a hand held printing implement for simultaneously marking at least two superimposed paper plies with a character, which implement has a print head having a printing part which defines a character to be printed, an ink supply to the printing part to permit the character to be printed when the head contacts the paper ply, and a punch part which also defines the character and allows the user to replicate the character on a copy ply beneath the printed ply by the application of suitable pressure.
Another form of the invention provides a hand held printing implement for simultaneously marking at least two superimposed paper plies with a character comprising:
a printer core having a leading end and an opposite end;
a print head at the leading end, the print head having a printing part to permit the character to be printed when the head contacts the paper ply and a punch part which also defines the character and allows the user to replicate the character on a copy ply beneath the printed ply; and
a striker which slides on the printer core and strikes the printer core in order to simultaneously print and replicate the character.
A further form of the invention provides a hand held printing implement for simultaneously marking at least two superimposed paper plies with a character comprising:
a hollow tubular body;
a printer core having a leading end and an opposite end, nested in the body, the body and core being slidable in relation to each other;
a print head at the leading end of the core;
bias means arranged to bias the printer core toward the leading end of the body; and
means extending from the core outside the body to permit the user's finger to flip the core against the bias means to generate a print strike force.
A still further form of the invention provides a hand held printing implement for simultaneously marking at least two superimposed paper plies with a character comprising:
a hollow tubular body;
a printer core having a leading end and an opposite end, nested in the body, the body and core being slidable in relation to each other;
a print head at the leading end of the core;
bias means capable of storing a print strike force for imposition on the core when the body and core slide in relation to each other; and
trip means operable when the body and core slide to a predetermined position to release the print strike force suddenly when the force reaches a predetermined magnitude, causing the printing head to strike the plies.
The body may comprise a static inner tube which accommodates the core, the inner tube having a guide end for contacting the ply to be printed and a reaction end; and an outer reciprocable tube which moves between a loaded position in which the bias means is loaded against the core and a rest position in which the bias means is less loaded. The printing head may be a hollow punch which defines the perimeter of the character to be printed. The space within the perimeter may be filled with an ink impregnated pad. Alternatively the hollow punch may be a capillatory orifice. The pad or orifice may be in flow communication with an ink reservoir in the core. The ink may be mobile, for example aqueous ink, volatile ink or viscous for example thixatropic ink such as used in ball point pens. The guide end of the static inner tube may have an axial tubular guide ending in a tip which projects beyond the outer reciprocable tube in order that the tip is located accurately on the ply over the site to be printed, and the leading end of the core has a neck which is a slide fit in the axial guide. Conveniently the bias means is a coli spring acting between the core and the outer reciprocable tube.
The trip means may be a two part magnetic coupling, one part being connected to the opposite end of the core, the other part being connected to the static inner tube, the parts of the coupling being normally in contact except when the outer reciprocable tube slides loading the bias means to a predetermined position whereupon the parts separate and the core is fired axially toward the ply. Thus in one version of the implement the outer tube may have an open end and a closed end, the reaction end of the static inner tube holds one part of the magnetic coupling and defines a pair of apertures close to the periphery of the part of the magnetic coupling; a pair of push-rods extend from the closed end of the outer tube through the apertures and support an annular spring pad which is coaxial with the said part of the coupling and is capable of urging a coil spring against the core when the outer tube slides in relation to the inner tube. The guide end of the static inner tube may have an axial tubular guide ending in a tip which projects beyond the outer reciprocable tube in order that the tip is locatable accurately on the ply over the site to be printed and the leading end of the core, said tubular guide having a lead in, and the leading end of the core has a nozzle which is a running fit in the lead in and a slide fit in the axial guide.
In another version of the implement the core is a running fit inside the static inner tube and has at the opposite end:
(a) a lip which normally engages a stop on the opposite end of the inner static tube; and
(b) a ramp face capable of engaging the outer tube such that when the outer tube slides towards the ply to be printed the ramp face tilts the core and lip out of engagement with the inner static tube causing the core to fire under the action of the bias means.
The opposite end of the core may be open giving access to a spring pocket inside the core which pocket contains a coil spring; a pendant finger extends from the closed end of the reciprocable tube into the open end of the core in order to compress the spring when the reciprocable tube is slid toward the ply, said finger being itself captive within the spring pocket in order to retract the core when the reciprocable tube retracts to the rest position. Thus the pendant finger may have a captive end and a free end, a spring contacting pad at the free end for location within a spring pocket and a mount at the captive end which is supported by the closed end of the outer tube and which permits precissional movement of the free end of the pendant finger. The core may be a loose fit inside the inner static tube and the ramp face is located on a portion of the pendant finger.